A little slice of real life

Category Archives: running

I officially made it about 3 weeks into my half marathon training before I had to stop. Something in my hip was obviously pulled/strained which made it difficult to walk (and I do a lot of walking at work!) Rather than push through and hope it got better with time I decided to stop, no running and no walking (besides the usual amount) until things were feeling better. My PT-in-training bestie agreed with me and sent me a ton hip strengthening suggestions in the mean time.

Two weeks later and I may not feel 100% but I’m going to try and ease back into it. If it hurts I’ll stop and maybe go see a doctor, but I’m hoping for the best and I’m optimistic about getting back on track with training this month.

I did a slow and easy 2 miles with a mile walk for a cool down yesterday and no problems, so maybe the time off was just what I needed. Since July is a long month I’m starting this calendar this weekend. I kept the number of runs per week down so that I have plenty of time to stretch/crosstrain/recover between each one and I’m hoping these extra precautions will keep me injury free!

Welcome back for another week of my particular brand of crazy. It’s Monday which means it’s time for another Slice of Life. Basically I share what I’ve been up to for the past week and link you to related posts from some all over the internet 🙂

The Life

I officially survived starting both of my jobs last week (despite my neighbor “choking” me during my CPI training). I’ve got a great caseload of upper elementary students for the next 4 weeks of summer school and a pair of clients at my part-time ABA gig. I had to generate my own therapy schedule for the first time everwhich took a lot longer than it probably should have but it’ll get easier with time. I also took advantage of having a weekend to finally plant some herbs (just mint and basil in pots for this year) and catch up on some recipe photographing. For reading this week I found:

The Naked Face Project from Healthy Tipping Point. I’ve been working to streamline my personal routine and move into “greener” more natural beauty products and this project definitely takes care of that!

An interesting read from Greatist on the rising prevalence of autoimmune disease in 20 somethings (too bad Celiac didn’t make the list… guess I’m not as trendy as I used to be 😉 )

A defense of oil pulling from Wellness Mamma, who introduced me to the idea in the first place. It’s still a part of my weekly routine and I really do feel as though I’ve seen improvements.

A seemingly fair review of my old favorite grocery store Trade Joe’s from Savvy Sugar that looks at their discounts from both sides of the aisle. Either way the closest TJ’s is now almost 40 minutes away so I won’t be shopping there any time soon 😦

The Eats

I am still swimming in salads from my first roundof CSA produce (though I’m not gonna lie I’m excited for round 2 this week!) I had salad for lunch almost every day and I’ve still got enough for a few more this week. I finally cut into my kohlrabi and decided it’s one of my new favorite veggies, I sliced it super thin and used it to make a variation on my Kale Slaw. Aside from salad it’s been lots of beans and rice, eggs, lentil tacos, and lots of pesto. Other great eats I found include:

Drool worthy Seafood dip from Peas and Crayons that BF is trying to bribe me into making ASAP.

A Buzzfeed Sangria roundup that could keep me and my friends buzzed all summer long. *side note find local friends ASAP so I have an excuse to make sangria*

A fun new contest with a hefty prize from Bobs Red Mill (the maker of my beloved GF oats).

The Exercise

Exercise this week has dwindled significantly in terms of running. I think the change up in surfaces by my new place (gravel, mulch and grass) and the increases in mileage I’d been trying to build all added up and left me with one very sore hip. Despite all the stretching and foam rolling my PT bestiesuggested I still can’t go more than a mile without things feeling funky. Since both of my jobs are active I’m officially on a running rest until everything feels 100%. That doesn’t mean I’ll be taking it easy though! I’m looking at plenty of yoga, HIIT workouts with minimal jumping, and slow hikes on the trails until I’m back to normal. I’m not sure yet how this will impact my plans to run a half-marathon with the BF this fall, but I’ll be sure to keep you all posted. No fitness links this week, just a reminder to listen to your body 🙂

Who’s got a recommendation for low impact at home workouts? Anyone want to come over for a sangria party?

I start my grown up job today (and I may be more than just a little excited)!! I’m incredibly blessed that all my licensure worked itself out in time and I can start my first day of summer school on a good foot. I also get to meet my new ABA client at job number two this evening (because working just one job clearly isn’t enough for me). But while I’m off doing that I figured I’d leave you with a little recap of the past week, with another round of Slices of Life.

The Eats

Lots of smoothies, stir-fry, and veggie burgers for me. I actually spent the last two weeks eating fully vegetarian until I went home for Fathers Day and we made my dad barbecue chicken…a girls gotta have some balance, right? I also found…

A Gluten Free Bread that looks like real bread- I can’t wait to try this recipe from The Non-Dairy Queen (Thanks to Lindsay for sharing the recipe).

A delicious Green Smoothie recipe and a fun contest from The Gluten Free Treadmill.

The Exercise

I already mentioned the last week was filled with puppy love, which included lots of walks. But it also included two 4-mile runs and my first time running on something besides the sidewalk. My legs definitely felt like jelly going through the grass and up the smallest of hills, but the view of the lake by my new place was totally worth it! Speaking of new places…

The Life

I’m officially, officially all moved in with the BF (and his mom) now. No take backs 😉 He may have commandeered majority of the dresser drawers and closet space, but I think we managed to blend our stuff together pretty well. I particularly love my little “kitchen” which is basically our mini fridge filled with my CSA share and a shelf for all the rest of my food supplies (thankfully we were able to make room for my giant blender in the actual kitchen!).

As for the rest of the life I got my first CSA share of the season and I’m definitely looking forward to the next 8! This one was loaded with greens including a new to me veggie kohlrabi, Meghan assures me it’s tasty just about any way you cook it though I haven’t tried it out yet. I also went back down to visit my parents (which seems weird since I haven’t been gone that long) but we had to do a little something for Fathers Day. I know everyone thinks they have the best dad ever but unless you’re my long lost sibling I hate to tell you you’re wrong. My dad is an amazing man who works so hard to care for our family and I was glad to go enjoy another family dinner (love you dad!). As far as links go this week I found:

My vacation time is quickly coming to a close and I’m more than ready ( I get another month off after summer school ends in mid-July and I have no idea what I’ll do with myself then!). The past week I’ve been checking boing things off my list like a physical and another TB test as well as taking an online Autism module for job number 2 and spending hours on the phone with the state trying to check down my licenses. Getting all those fun things done means that I can really relax and enjoy my last few days of total freedom.

While I wasn’t waiting on hold with the state this week I did manage to read some awesome posts and check some fun things off my list, so lets get to it!

The Eats

Staying on a budget has been much easier than I thought (though it helps that I inherited a lot of food from people heading out of town this month). I’ve been having a blast experimenting in the kitchen, and dining al fresco while throwing tennis balls for the pup. I’ve got plans this week to make up a few more easy freezer foods so I don’t have to worry about cooking as much while I settle in at my job and new place next week. I’m also super excited to finally get my first batch of CSA veggies this Thursday!!

I’m looking into growing a few herbs this summer with these tips from Averie Lane

And I’m loving these tips from The V Spot on how to store the goodies I’ll be picking up later this week.

The Exercise

I got in all the miles I wanted to run last week, and then some when you add in walks with the pup (and let me tell you she loves to walk). I also focused quite a bit on core strengthening and yoga stretching last week because my lower back was super tight (I’ll be trying to bribe the BF into a backrub soon).

The Life

Minus the courses and phone calls I haven’t been up to much this week. Spent some time cooking and photographing. Spent a lot of time walking and chasing tennis balls (lots and lots of tennis balls). Enjoyed some time in the sunshine making some vitamin D and reading for fun. s for the rainy days and long evenings… pup and I spent our time cuddled up on the couch working our way through Supernatural 🙂

This tutorial from It’s Always Autumn was great for helping me work towards better pictures with my trusty old point and shoot camera.

Good morning everyone. Today is National Running Day so it seemed a fitting day to share my planned training schedule for my first official month of training. Trainingis such an odd word, but I like it, makes this whole thing feel very official. I have exactly 4 months from today to go from my current 3 ten-minute miles to my goal of 13.1 eight and a half-minute miles. Remind me again why I’m doing this?

I’m running to reach a goal. I have this wonderful habit of coming up with fabulous ideas and grand plans and then not following through. Well races are kind of expensive, and I know I won’t want the money I paid towards the entry fee to go to waste. Thats my way of guaranteeing I’ll follow through with the goal. I knowthat I have a long way to go before I get there. I’m pushing myself to do this because I know it’s good to try new things and I know doing it with the BF will help to keep me motivated.

Today specifically I’m also running for a cause. National Running Day is promoting Charity Miles to allow all participants a chance to do some good while working towards their personal goals. My money today is heading to Autism Speaks because why not support my favorite kiddos 🙂

With 4 months to go I have plenty of time to increase my miles slowly which is what I’m focused on. I went through so many training calendars but couldn’t find one in particular that I liked. But they did give me a great template to create my own.

Here’s to five miles by the end of the month!

Anyone else really bad at sticking to ideas they plan on? Who else is taking a run today?

Whew the last few days have been a whirlwind, both of activity and emotion. I’m officially moved out of my parents house which is exciting and scary and bittersweet (I’m at my aunt’s house dog-sitting for the next two weeks, though most of my stuff is already at the BF’s). I officially accepted and started training for my part time job (because obviouslya full time job isn’t enough for me). I also had my last day at my current ABA job, which was really hard because I’ve grown to love the kiddo I worked with. The thing I didn’t do… blog… whoops 😉

The eats

This past week was a combination of snacks, smoothies, and my last few dinners with my family. This coming week starts my budget for the year as I start being responsible for my own eats. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to try more veggie based meals and excited for the challenge of cooking good food on a limited budget. Now if only my CSA would start already! Some of the recipes I’m looking forward to trying this week include:

The exercise

“Training” got off to a slow start this week, though I was definitely active. I got in lots of strength training while packing, unpacking, and repacking my life into the car to make everything fit. There was quite a lot of yoga which was so easy in my newly emptied room. I got in lots of slow, easy, cardio taking long walks around the neighborhood and park with my aunts dog. I did manage to run 4 hot sweaty miles which is not as many as I wanted, but at least it’s something. This week I’m planning to map out some runs around here to work on milage (I’m looking for 5 by the end of the week). I’m also looking into some at home crossfit based workouts for non-running days (mostly because BF is interested in trying it out, but neither of us have that kind of cash right now). Things on the list to try include:

The life

Like I said already moving out is both exciting and bittersweet. There was a lot to be done at the BF’s this past weekend including paintingthe room we’re moving into, moving all the furniture between the rooms, and helping move some of his/his mom’s stuff into storage in their garage. I’ve got some experience painting from when I worked with Habitat for Humanity and it was fun to show him the ropes. I finished developing and organizing my budget for the coming year. My wonderful Master’s degree came with a pretty hefty price tag, and though BF and I made the best of our space I’m really hoping to only have to live with him and his mom for no more than a year. Finally I checked a few things off my to-do list around here including starting my recipe page, updating my profile, and laying the groundwork for a few more regular features including this one. Slices of Life is my hybrid of a weekly recap and a link love post, with a little to-do list accountability thrown in for good measure. Helping me get all of this done in the past week were some of the following:

The 7 Baby Steps from Dave Ramsey (I also borrowed his book Total Money Makeover and plan to make BF read it)

I am not a runner. I don’t think that should come as a surprise to anyone around here, but this announcement might. BF and I are going to run a half marathon together this fall. That’s quite a bit farther than the 10k I put as a goal on my list, and a heck of a lot farther than I’ve ever even thought about running before. But what good are goals if the don’t shake you out of your comfort zone once in a while right?

Since I took a few months some time off from running, BF said I had to run at least 6 miles this week before we signed up. Being the competitive spirit that I am I did him one better and did a total of 10, with another 3 planned for tomorrow. If I can split it up over 4 days this half marathon thing is totally doable!

Since I have no idea what I’m doing I figure this is as good a place as any to share the training process of a total non-runner. Starting with actually setting up some sort of training process/goals…

Get to an 8 min/mile pace. That’s where I was when I did my 5k last fall, and where I would like to be for this race in October. I’m currently at ~10 min/mile so I’ve got my work ahead of me.

Build up my run length. Right now 3 miles is a good run for me, my goal is 4 by the end of the month but clearly I need to up my distance.

Build endurance. Currently I can last about 2 miles before I need to slow down to a walk, my goal is 3 without walking by the end of this month, and building from there.

Cross train with weights and yoga on non-running days. I’ve worked hard for a lot of my yoga flexibility and the last thing I want to do is lose it by getting focused on one thing. Plus I think cross training is supposed to help prevent injury? (clearly I’ve got a lot of research to do)

Sooo any distance runners out there who have some advice for a newbie? Anyone else think I might be slightly crazy?